The weblog of Norman Geras

February 22, 2007

The Momma 'n' Daddy Collection 75

Readers who have been following this series as closely as they should have been will know that in the tradition of the Momma 'n' Daddy song, there is much singing by children, often now grown up, of their mommas and their daddies, and there is also a certain amount of singing by mommas and daddies about their children and their concerns about them, whether these be because the children have gone from the family home or gone astray. There are other themes, of course, as those of you who've been taking notes will know, but these are two perspectives you couldn't have missed. Today's offering provides a different angle of vision on the inter-generational relationship. For what it gives us is a voice - that voice being adopted here by Emmylou Harris - admonishing a father, asking of him what kind of model he will be to his son. One can't be definite about it, but the suspicion has to be that it is the voice of the boy's mother that poses the question. Here is the song, 'Son Of A Rotten Gambler', from Emmylou's album Cimarron:

And his love will be his vision
And he'll take you where you stand
Will you stand your life by his
And help the boy become a man

Chorus
He'd be the son of his father, his father the teacher
Teaching love and honesty, being his own man handler
For the son of the son of a run-of-the-mill run
Rotten gambler

Will the devil be getting to you as you look back
Over what you've done?
What you've done, was it for reason or for rhyme
Was it just for fun?

And... Repeat chorus

Back on the road now you can lose your head
There ain't no kingdom for the gambling man
You know the road now and you've made your stand
When his eyes shine upon you, shine upon you

Repeat chorus

Repeat previous verse

And... Repeat chorus

As you can see, a lot of the lyric gets repeated, and that's all to the good in view of the gravity of the message. Don't you ever forget it: 'When his eyes shine upon you, shine upon you'. Oh, and if you can get to listen to it, it's a fine, fine song. Even if you can't get to listen to it, that's what it is.

[The Momma 'n' Daddy Archive, containing all the details of the series, is here.]